Chelsea vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Stamford Bridge is the venue as Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion lock horns in a mouth-watering League Cup third-round showdown.

Under-fire manager Mauricio Pochettino admitted ‘League Cup could be Chelsea’s best hope of winning a piece of silverware this season’ in the build-up to this fixture after his 10-man side slumped to a 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa at the weekend. The ‘Blues’ will take the field amid their worst six-game Premier League start (W1, D2, L3) since 2015/16, hoping to make amends to their fans following back-to-back scoring blanks at Stamford Bridge (L2). But Brighton’s visit to West London is the last thing out-of-sorts Chelsea needed at this moment, especially considering they’ve gone winless in three consecutive home H2Hs (D2, L1) since a 2-0 win in September 2019. Scoring first could prove crucial, with Chelsea’s last three home matches against top-flight rivals yielding a win/loss ‘to nil.’

On the other hand, a rampant Brighton side maintained their near-perfect Premier League start with a come-from-behind 3-1 home victory over Bournemouth at the weekend. That was their third identical league win after a 3-1 loss at West Ham in late August, meaning their six top-flight games this season have featured over 3.5 goals and both teams scoring (W5, L1). Pulling off a comeback against Bournemouth saw the ‘Seagulls’ bounce back from a gut-wrenching 3-2 home defeat to AEK Athens in their opening Europa League outing, setting Roberto De Zerbi’s men up nicely for this travel. Delivering action from the onset, the visitors have won both domestic away games this term by an aggregate score of 7-2 after breaking the deadlock within the first 20 minutes.